Let Me Count the Ways
by wazlib88
Summary: Ron spends the night before his wedding reading some important words from his bride-to-be. A companion piece to the nineteenth chapter of Firsts and Lasts, but can be read separately.


A/N: So if you have read the nineteenth chapter of FAL, you've read Ron's vows to Hermione. Here is the companion piece - Hermione's vows to Ron. Can be enjoyed separately, though. :) Fluff, fluff, fluff.

Disclaimer: I do not own these wonderful characters.

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20 June 2003

Ron simply couldn't sleep. He'd stayed up playing chess with Harry until nearly midnight - that is, until Ron had lost his queen due to his concentration being almost entirely on something else, and the scar-faced git had laughed just a little too loudly. They hadn't bothered using a silencing charm, so twenty seconds later, his mum had stormed in and forced Harry to retreat to Ginny's room.

"You need your rest for the big day!" she'd insisted, ushering Harry out before he could even finish clearing the chess board. His best mate had offered only an apologetic shrug, but he had it easy - he got to sleep next to his wife. Ron, meanwhile, had to suffer through a night of sleeping alone. What's more, the big day he was meant to be resting up for was the very reason he was too excited to sleep.

He couldn't believe he was marrying Hermione tomorrow. Finally. They'd been dancing around the idea of it for years, and the day was finally within reach. Ron knew that the ceremony was, in essence, just a formality - but there was a distinct difference between a girlfriend and a fiancée and a wife, and as of tomorrow afternoon, Hermione would be his _wife_.

Deciding that he wasn't going to be able to sleep anytime soon, Ron reached over to the bag he'd brought from the flat. After rummaging around through his toothbrush, deodorant, extra pants, and the socks that had been in there since his last day-long mission, he finally found the piece of parchment he'd been looking for. Lighting his wand with a quick _lumos_, Ron sat up in his bed and settled in to read.

_Dear Ron,_

_On our wedding day, we are going to promise to spend our lives together. This seems a bit silly to me, because we've been spending our lives together since we were eleven. It's been in different capacities, of course, but you have been one of the most consistent things in my life for more than a decade, and when you think about it, not that much is going to change after we say "I do." But we both know that it's still an important step, because we're saying once and for all that we are Ron and Hermione - a package deal. _

_I've told you before that I started to think about you in a romantic way around our fourth year. That's probably true. That's when I realized it, anyway. But honestly, I think I've been falling in love with you since you sacrificed yourself in that chess game our first year, or since you belched slugs for me in our second, or since you told someone you thought was a mass murderer that he'd have to kill you before he could touch Harry. The greatest love is built on friendship, and Ron Weasley, you're the most wonderful friend in the world. I know what you're thinking, but please don't. You are fiercely loyal, and you have the amazing capacity to learn and grow when you make mistakes - which, if I learned anything in my adolescence, is more than most people can say._

_When I kissed you in the Room of Requirement, I knew we were going to be something special. You've been the best boyfriend I could ever ask for, Ron. You've helped me in so many ways, honestly. When I was seventeen, I was insecure and vulnerable, and I wasn't sure who I really was. But you, Ron, you have always made me feel like I'm capable of anything. You make me feel loved. You know me better than anybody, which is sort of scary - but you still look at me in a way that makes me feel...everything. I don't think I say any of this enough, Ron, but you are the most important person in my life, and our relationship has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. You make me so happy, and you don't even have to try. We can be sitting on the sofa staring at a wall, and it's still the best part of my day so long as you're sitting there next to me._

_I honestly love everything about you, you know. It's hard to even choose out specific things, because it's all a part of you and I want all of it. I love your oversized feet. I love how strong your arms feel when you hold me. I love the look you get in your eyes after we make love. I even love that you're incapable of putting your shoes where they belong when you kick them off after work. You know, I don't think "love" is even a strong enough word to describe it, to be honest, but there's really not a better one. If I could tell you all of this every day, I would, but I think a simple "I love you" will have to do. Please know that every time I tell you that I love you, what I really mean is everything I'm writing here. _

_I think that I first realized you were going to be the man I married that first year after the war, while I was finishing up at Hogwarts and you were training to be an Auror. When we were apart, everything felt wrong. I actually felt a bit pathetic about it, to be honest, because I never thought I'd be the type of girl that relied on a man. But you aren't just any man, Ron, you are the love of my life, and my best friend. Being with you has always been the missing piece of the puzzle. Everything else falls into place, so long as we're together. I don't care how silly this sounds, because it's true._

_ You can tease me for being sappy all you want, but you know as well as I do that we really are meant to be together. We always have been, I think. You know that I've always been a bit skeptical about believing in any sort of higher power, but I really do think that you and I are written in the stars, as they say. We were meant to go to Hogwarts and become Harry's best friends. We were meant to help him win a war. We were meant to fall in love. And I think, someday, we're meant to start a family. You're going to be such an amazing dad, Ron, and I can't wait to be our children's mum._

_I've gone on for awhile now, but I can't really seem to put everything into words. This is why I suggested we do it this way - nobody would want to listen to me babble on like this, but I know that writing it down and reading it to each other will give us something we can take with us always. Everyone says marriage is going to be hard work, and I believe them - but I like to think that when it gets tough, we can look back at these vows and remember why we're doing it in the first place. Our relationship was never the easiest thing, but it was always, always worth it. Of course, in the end it's really quite simple. We've just complicated it at times - a side effect of being human, I suppose._

_But the bottom line, Ron, is that I love you, and I will always love you. I really feel like I've grown to be the person I am meant to be, and being with you has been the biggest step toward that. I always thought that being defined by somebody else was a sign of weakness, but it's not - we help to define each other because we are a team - we're Ron and Hermione. We are two individual people, but we will always be at our best when we're together. _

_Ron, you are the loyal, fun-loving, compassionate, and courageous man I fell in love with, and you have so much heart - and so much of mine, as well. I couldn't be more honored to stand in front of all our friends and family and declare that I am yours, and you are mine, for the rest of our lives._

_All my love,_

_Hermione __**Weasley**_

Ron couldn't wipe the grin off his face if he tried. He read the words over quickly once more, the memory of Hermione reading them aloud to him the night before magnificently clear in his mind. Sometimes, he still found it hard to believe how lucky he was. Hermione had cried when he'd read her what he'd written (though his "vows" had been admittedly more of a stream of consciousness than anything else), and she'd cried while reading hers as well. Ron had been a bit choked up himself, though he'd never admit it. But as Hermione told him, in the end it was really nothing to be ashamed of. He agreed - their relationship was the most beautiful thing in his life.

Ron had never been particularly comfortable with feelings, but as he and Hermione had grown closer together, he had found that he honestly wanted to tell her everything that was on his mind. If he trusted anybody with his innermost thoughts, it was her. It made him feel open and vulnerable and sometimes a bit ridiculous, but he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. When he'd been younger, he thought that being in love would be like being friends with snogging and shagging privileges. But it was so much more than that with Hermione, and that was why he was going to marry her.

At last, Ron's thoughts wandered and he began to drift asleep, thoughts of Hermione dancing through his mind. He dreamt that night of daisies and white dresses, and of a beautiful brunette floating down an aisle toward him - because even his subconscious simply could not wait for Hermione Granger to become his wife.

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A/N: I am clearly on a fluff crusade. I am disgusted with myself. I seem to be living vicariously through Ron and Hermione in light of my own single status. Hurray. But you had to know, once I wrote that ridiculously heartfelt note from Ron, that Hermione would get her say, too. Anyway, stay tuned for more sappiness in the form of the Firsts and Lasts epilogue - it's going to be beautifully plotless.


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